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The Supper Club Saints
Claire Swinarski
Avon & Harper Voyager
HarperAdult Audio
352 Pages
May 6, 2026
This novel, with such a gorgeous cover and a provocative title, was a bit of a disappointment for me. I had such high expectations for it. It is not that it was not beautifully written; the language was compelling. At times, it was even haunting. However, it lacked clarity.
The plot as captured in the book’s summary was fascinating. A young woman returns home from a commune (called a “mommune” after two years, after there was an unfortunate incident there. The book focuses on the four female characters in the Simon family (the young woman’s family), exploring their relationships and uncovering how and why this young woman was driven to the Mommune in the first place and how they adjust to her return. This sounds exactly like the kinds of novels I like.
What went wrong for me was that since it was written from the four perspectives and various time periods, it became very confusing for me. It was hard to keep everything and everyone straight. In addition, I wanted a little bit more in the way of plot and events, perhaps more about this Mommune. While I do enjoy what I call “relationship” books, I can get a little bored with relationship and family angst; there are so many books about family dysfunction and, for me, there needs to be something more to maintain my attention.
In the middle of the book, I shifted to the audiobook which helped me with attention; it was easier to listen than to read. It did not do much for the convolution of the story. At the end of the day, even with a few interesting plot points, this is a very character-driven literary novel and will appeal to readers who like them. I always have enjoyed them but as I get older, I find them to be a bit harder to read.
Thanks to NetGalley, Avon & Harper Voyager and HarperAudio Adult for providing me with an advanced copy of the digital novel and audiobook. All of the opinions expressed herein are solely my own.
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